The Spectacle Blog

Over the weekend, actor Michael Douglas penned an op-ed for the L.A. Times on the question of anti-Semitism.

Douglas was motivated to write the editorial after his son had his first encounter with anti-Semitism while their family was vacationing in southern Europe last summer.

He identifies three reasons why he anti-Semitism, particularly in Europe, has seen a resurgence: a bad economy, misplaced hatred of Israel and demographics citing the growing Muslim population on the continent.

A few years ago, when we were struggling through a shutdown that impacted a whopping 2% of government services, Starbucks Barista-in-Chief Howard Schultz, whose management of the coffee company is just slightly better than his management of the Seattle Supersonics, decided that the time had come to use Starbucks's most powerful weapon - writing the occasionally misspelled phrase on a paper cup - to bridge the partisan debate.

In a move that convinced absolutely nobody to embrace a bipartisan solution to the shutdown crisis, Starbucks baristas across DC began writing "Come Together" on cups of coffee dispensed to Congressmen and their staffs. It quickly became a running gag, and Starbucks has since taken a hiatus from interfering in the day to day lives of everyday Americans whose names they often can't even pronounce correctly.

He may not have been able to beat Barack Obama, but can he beat (literally) one of the greatest boxers in the sport's history?

Mitt Romney - yes, that Mitt Romney - will suit up and enter the ring on May 15, perhaps for the toughest (actual) fight of his life, as he squares off against Evander Holyfield. For charity, of course. I mean, obviously. I know Romney's been busy these last couple of years, getting pizza with his grandkids and spiffing up his La Jolla car elevator to sell, so that he can move to a brand new plot of land in central Utah, but I don't think he's been pounding cow carcasses and chasing chickens.

Forget about Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, the real fight of the century is scheduled for May 15 when Mitt Romney enters the ring to battle Evander Holyfield in Salt Lake City.

Yes, you read that right. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and Holyfield, the five-time heavyweight titleholder who smacked around the likes of Mike Tyson and George Foreman, are going to lace up gloves and duke it out in a charity exhibition.

I usually don't watch spring training games, but I did catch a bit of the Nationals-Mets game on Saturday afternoon. Zack Wheeler was scheduled to start for the Mets, but he was scratched due to soreness in his elbow as well as having developed a blister on the index finger of his pitching hand.

The Mets' announcers were downplaying the significance of the elbow and didn't think an MRI would be necessary as Wheeler had already undergone two MRIs - one in November and one in January neither of which showed structural damage to his elbow.

But Mets GM Sandy Alderson did an about face the following day and Wheeler undergo an MRI which revealed a torn UCL. Wheeler will require Tommy John surgery and miss the entire 2015 season.

In a last minute decision, Tzipi Livni announced that she will not serve as Prime Minister should the Zionist Camp win tomorrow's Israeli elections.

Livni's Hatnuah had formed an alliance with Isaac Herzog's Labor Party at the outset of the election campaign. They had agreed that if the Zionist Camp came to power, Herzog would serve as Prime Minister for two years and then hand off power to Livni.

“I think anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state and to evacuate territory is giving radical Islam a staging ground against the State of Israel,” said Netanyahu.

Perhaps Bibi feels liberated and has nothing to lose by going bold.

Of course, if he does remain in power the Obama Administration will move heaven and earth to pressure him into resuming negotiations with a Palestinian Authority now backed by Hamas. Throw in the Obama Administration's desperation to get a nuclear agreement with Iran, it would be a very rough 22 months for Bibi and Israel and Netanyahu might have to very well give ground. But there could be light at the end of the tunnel if someone like Scott Walker were elected President.

The Koran prohibits homosexuality but not, apparently, cross-dressing. I particularly like the bra that the first ISIS warrior is wearing, but suspect he got it off some unfortunate captured woman. Really, wouldn’t a burka have been enough to disguise that fact that these guys were men?

Like most 6-year-olds, Jacob Abedini sat with a black pen in hand and excitedly sent out invitations to his seventh birthday party Tuesday. But the guest whose attendance is most important won't be there -- his father, American Pastor Saeed Abedini, who remains locked inside an Iranian prison because of Christian faith.

Abedini, a U.S. citizen and 34-year-old married father of two from Idaho, has been held in Iran for two and a half years after being accused of proselytizing in the Islamic republic. The American Center for Law and Justice and Abedini's family have pleaded with the U.S. and UN officials to secure his release -- including a meeting between the man's wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and President Obama earlier this year in Idaho that renewed hope for the family.

As the U.S. conducts sensitive negotiations with Iran over its nuclear ambitions, the family is left wondering about the status of Abedini -- especially his young son Jacob.

A copy of the birthday invitation 6-year-old Jacob Abedini sent to his father, American Pastor Saeed Abedini, who remains imprisoned in Iran. (ACLJ)

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